Head of R&D

Build up the R&D team and environment to produce consistent, high quality, scalable food that our customers love while achieving cost targets.

Outcomes

• Achieve and maintain 95% B2C customer food feedback.
• Achieve and maintain 90% B2B customer food feedback.
• Achieve and maintain 25% food cost.
• Achieve and maintain 13% production cost.
• Launch 3-5 new menus.
• Build up a culture of high performance and transparency in the kitchen.

Responsibilities

• Build a world-class food team that cares about the food they make and the customers they serve.
• Put in place the best processes to ensure quality production and high standards to put Grain at the forefront of the food scene.
• Work with the Production team and other Grain departments to plan menus.
• Produce precise and organised, actionable recipe cards using a standard testing protocol.
• Manage food cost targets religiously.
• Mentor, guide and train up the food team.
• Collaborate with R&D chefs to execute recipes in the kitchen.
• Work closely with other Grain departments (fulfilment, photography, marketing, technology) on a day-to-day basis on various projects.

Competencies/Requirements

• Background of >5 years in F&B.
• Focus on delighting customers. Be maniac about customer experience. Understand the problems our customers are facing intimately, treat them the way we would like to be treated, and make products we will actually use ourselves.
• Pursue excellence. Hold yourself and everyone to the highest standards. Care about every single detail.
• Embrace openness. Put your honest thoughts on the table with each other and have thoughtful disagreements while caring deeply about each other.
• Be extremely reliable. Always do what you say you will do. Be on time and present.
• Disagree and commit. Have conviction and fight for what you believe in, but once a decision has been made, commit wholly to making it work.
• Make others successful. Put others ahead of yourself. Genuinely want success for others and go out of your way to help them achieve it.
• Drive for results. Focus on metrics and produce the right output in a timely fashion.
• Frugality and efficiency. Able to accomplish more with less.
• Honesty/integrity. Does not cut corners ethically. Earns trust and maintains confidence.
• Organisation and planning. Plans, organises, schedules, and budgets in an efficient manner.
• Bias for action. Moves quickly and takes a forceful stand without being overly abrasive.
• Analytical skills. Able to structure and process qualitative or quantitative data and draw insightful conclusions from it.
• Grit. Demonstrates tenacity and willingness to go the distance to get something done.
• Ability to hire A players. Sources, selects, and sells A players to join a company.
• Ability to develop people. Coaches people in their current roles to improve performance.
• Flexibility/adaptability. Adjusts quickly to changing priorities and conditions.

What’s in it for you

• Work with a fast-growing, lean and mean team to make real-world impact.
• Have a lot of ownership and drive your own results and progression.
• Smart people who sweat the details and push for the highest standards.
• Training and in-house opportunities to help you grow.
• Other benefits include a competitive compensation package and birthday leave.

You should include these in your application:

• CV or LinkedIn profile
• Tell us about a time you had to work on a highly challenging task. How did you overcome it?
• What motivates you?
• What's your favourite food and where do you get it? Why?
• A good way to start is to read about what it is like working at Grain: https://grain.notion.site/Working-at-Grain-96bff3b..